Round Two Report
Lucas Bjerregaard holds the halfway lead at a European Tour event for the first time in over three years after carding a ten under par 62 at the second round of the Hero Open.
The Dane, whose last victory was on Scottish soil at the 2018 Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, made the turn at Fairmont St Andrews in four under par, and produced a blistering back nine which saw him card six consecutive birdies from the third to the eighth as he signed for a 15 under par total and a two-stroke lead.
Scotsman Calum Hill, who led after 18 holes, leads the home charge after carding a four under par 68 to move to 13 under. He’s one stroke ahead of Santiago Tarrio of Spain and South Africa’s Justin Walters.
Walters carded an eight under par round of 64, with Tarrio signing for a seven under 65. Tarrio is currently the leader on the Challenge Tour’s Road to Mallorca Rankings with two wins on the developmental circuit in 2021.
Nine groups are still to complete their rounds after a delay of three hours and 20 minutes due to the threat of lightning on Friday morning. The second round will resume at 07:50 on Saturday, with round three starting no earlier than 10:20.
Player Quotes
Lucas Bjerregaard: “My putter might be the most valuable thing in Scotland right now. I’ve never putted like that and I’m not sure I’ve seen anyone putt like that. That was pretty special, I’m a happy man right now.
“When I made the turn. I was four under and then hit a bad tee shot on one. Terrible second shot, not a good wedge shot in and holed that for par. Then I got to three, hit two good shots on the par five, just short of the green, hit a terrible chip shot and holed that and thought ‘this is going pretty good’. Then I had a terrible shot on eight and holed a 50-60 footer.
“I hit my irons well, but didn’t hit it well off the tee. I hit about three or four fairways. I guess I got lucky and missed in the correct spots and managed to hit some good iron shots out of there and putted well. It was definitely the putter. I think I had about 20 putts today – that helps.
“We’ve been very fortunate on our side of the draw. Conditions finishing up here were pretty good, not much wind and we saw the sun for a couple of holes. We’ve been very fortunate and the same story yesterday. I didn’t feel that comfortable yesterday, I played okay but I wasn’t thinking nine or ten under – you rarely are. That’s how the round progressed and I felt very confident. It seemed every time I lined the putter up I felt I could make it.”
Calum Hill: “I’m pretty happy. I’ve been solid, saved myself nicely and made a lot of good five to seven footers when I had to. It’s been good.
“It was tricky (the wait). I haven’t done this before, but I came down at about midday and practiced for an hour and a half. I putted for 45 minutes and hit a bucket of balls. I felt that it kept the mundaneness before three thirty at bay, I didn’t stop after 11:30, so it was nice. It didn’t feel too bad.
“All day I didn’t hit a handful of great shots in a row but I was very patient, made the saves I needed to and took advantage of the ones where I hit it close. Pretty happy with the ‘B’ game today.”
Justin Walters: “I don’t know – other than just playing solid golf. I putted really well, I just did everything well and was able to get through the tough holes and the holes you could get after, I did. A couple of bonuses here and there, but overall I just held my mental side of the game. Approached it the same way and committed to everything. When things are really tough you can’t compute everything to a fine detail and go with a gut feeling and commit to that. This time it worked out really nicely.”
Santiago Tarrio: “The first holes were very tough with a lot of wind. It got easier to play as the wind went down a little bit and the course became easier. For me, it was another good day with my putting and up and downs. The rest of my game is okay. Tomorrow is another day and I hope I can make a lot of more birdies.”
